PRI Releases New Brief on the Benefits of Improving Incentives for Health Care Innovations
San Francisco, June 22, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in San Francisco, today announced the release of a new brief: “Improving the Incentive to Innovate: An Important Benefit of the 21st Century Cures Bill”, by PRI Senior Fellow Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D.
Innovations in the pharmaceutical industry have significantly improved health outcomes for patients and have made important contributions to the U.S. economy. “The combination of shortening effective patent lives and rising development costs are providing disincentives for future pharmaceutical research and if left unchecked, will diminish future innovations for patients and reduce the vibrancy of the U.S. economy,” said Dr. Winegarden.
Provisions in the 21st Century Cures bill would help address these problems by accelerating the approval process for innovative pharmaceutical drugs and as a result, extend the effective patent lives for new pharmaceutical innovations.
Dr. Winegarden added, “Reforms that streamline the FDA approval process will help improve the lackluster economic performance of the U.S. and help improve the welfare of patients by creating new, or more effective, pharmaceutical therapies. Extending pharmaceuticals’ effective patent life stimulates greater investment, and ultimately, innovation in the U.S. to the benefit of patients and overall economic growth.”
“Improving the Incentive to Innovate: An Important Benefit of the 21st Century Cures Bill” can be downloaded at www.pacificresearch.org . To interview Dr. Wayne Winegarden, please contact Laura Dannerbeck at [email protected] or Rowena Itchon at [email protected].
